The Reckoning
by setienpah08
Summary: Chloe, Derek, Simon, and Tori have had a few good nights at the safe house,but of course there's always something to stir up trouble! Please read and review! Chloe/Derek involved I also just changed the title from Revenge so same story just diff name!
1. Revenge

Chapter 1: Revenge

Disclaimer: Too bad I own nothing from the Darkest Powers :(

I awoke to a whisper in my ear.

"Chloe...."

The voice was so sounded quiet and pleasant. That, accompanied with the fact that I was finally having a normal dream rather than another one of the nightmares that had been keeping me up the past few nights made me blissfully unaware of any danger. So when it first spoke I just rolled over and smiled into my pillow.

"Chloe....that's your name right, brat? I sure hope you haven't forgotten me...."

Wait...this was all wrong. In my sleepy haze I had failed to hear the note of malice laced into those words. My grin was replaced with a gasp as I sat up in my bed so quickly that my head spun. The cold voice full of contempt was so familiar. Of course I hadn't forgotten. It was a voice that I'd hoped never to hear again.

My head shot whipped wildly in all directions as I looked around the room for the homeless man we had encountered during our early days of being on the run. It was the first time I had realized that I could raise a human corpse in my sleep, and the first time that a ghost had promised to hunt me down and seek revenge.

Amazingly Tori, my black-haired, witch, sometimes-friend, was still asleep in the bed less than ten feet away from me. She had probably gotten so used to me gasping, moaning, and even screaming in my sleep during our few days at the Safe House that she had learned to tune it out. I thought about saying something that would be loud enough to wake her, but what good would that really do? Tori was a pretty powerful witch, but there wasn't anything that she could do to fight a ghost. This was strictly my department. I was the necromancer. It would only scare her and I was definitely already scared enough for the two of us. No, it was best to leave her out of this one.

Without a word I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated hard on banishing the ghost.

"Oh no no no, not this time" he spat. "Revenge is a powerful driving force, you won't be able to banish me so easily this time little girl."

I could feel myself shaking but I tried so hard not to show him my nervousness. I wanted him to think I was in control. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pajamas and walked out the door as silently as I could. Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he would follow. This needed to be handled away from the house and I needed to be alone. I didn't want to scare anyone or least of all have Derek come to my rescue. I was sick of being a helpless damsel in distress. I wouldn't burden him anymore. Besides, the ghost only wanted me and the only way to make him stop was just to suck it up and face it...no matter how unappealing that idea was.

I finally stopped when we were pretty deep into the forest, about the same spot where I had last come with Derek to help him change. It was far enough away from the house that I wouldn't be heard. This was good because I wasn't sure exactly what he would do to me and I didn't know how loud I might scream. When I had accidently raised him in my sleep he had been so angry. It didn't matter to him that I couldn't control what I had just done, he only thought that I was a stupid kid messing with Satanic stuff and had maliciously trapped him back in his rotting corpse without his consent.

By this point the ghost had finally decided to show himself, still wearing the same ratty clothes that his dead body had been wearing the night we had found him.

"Okay," I muttered as I turned to face him. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to feel what I feel....I want you to feel death." He spoke with so much hate in his voice that I couldn't help but shiver with dread.

I tried to relax by reminding myself that he couldn't actually touch me, therefore could do no real physical damage, only an Agito half-demon could do that, but that didn't mean that my mind was safe. The thought wasn't very comforting though. Sometimes psychological damage didn't heal like a physical wound.

Suddenly everything went black. I was all alone, trapped in the darkness. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of grief and despair. A sadness and loneliness gripped my insides and made them twist in agony. The worst feeling was the hopelessness. To know that I could never escape this horrible place was almost too much to bear. I was frozen in my own personal hell.

"Welcome to death." He laughed maniacally as he spoke and the hatred that I felt towards him seemed to clear my mind for a second. I wasn't really stuck in the darkness. He didn't have that power. It all had to be an illusion. He wanted to simulate his suffering and make me experience the horrible things that he would feel for eternity. Knowing that it wasn't real seemed to reinvigorate me and I pushed him away with all my might.

When his laughter faltered I knew it was working. He was leaving. I pulled all the reserves of my power and used every ounce of my being on focusing to get rid of him.

Finally, I could see the forest again. But it was too much. I blacked out with exhaustion.

The next thing I knew Derek was standing over me gently but frantically trying to shake me awake.

When my eyes opened I saw his big green ones staring right back into mine. They were full of concern and fear. For the third time I got that weird jumpy feeling in my stomach and my head started buzzing. Maybe I was just still worked up from what I had just been through.

"Derek...I...What are you doing here?" I managed to choke out.

"I heard you leave the house so I followed." His voice still carried an edge of panic but now that he knew I was alive was starting to revert back to its usual harsh tone. "What were you thinking? You know it's not safe to wander out here alone. You could have been killed!"

"Derek please..." I pled. I didn't need a lecture right now.

He stopped chastising me long enough for me to explain what had happened.

"Chloe," he finally spoke after a few minutes of silence to process everything I had just told him. "I don't ever want you to try to handle stuff like that alone. You shouldn't have to and I don't expect you to. If you ever think anything like this is going to happen please let me know. I don't want anything to happen to you..." his voice become gruff when he said this. "Or at least tell Simon. Yeah, he'd be more help in times like this."

"Fine." I grumbled. I didn't care what I was agreeing too. I was too tired to fight. I just wanted to be back in bed though I wasn't sure I would be able to sleep after that ordeal.

I wobbled when Derek helped me up so he secured his big arm around my waist. Again the fuzzy feeling returned. I pushed it aside and we walked in silence back to the Safe House.

Simon was in the living room when we returned. "What happened?" He ran over to me and tried to take me away from Derek. I just waved him away but still smiled weakly to reassure him that there wasn't anything was too seriously wrong. I didn't want to have to rehash things out to Simon right now. As much as I liked Simon I had never really felt comfortable confiding in him and I didn't think I could handle reliving that horror. I would deal with Simon tomorrow. Instead, I just allowed Derek to help me up to my room and get me in bed.

The last thing I saw was his muscular dark frame leaving my room.


	2. Curiosity Killed The Cat

Disclaimer: I don't own the Darkest Powers...though it would be nice...

I never actually went to sleep. As tired as I was, the agonizing fear of what had happened earlier still lingered in my mind eliminating that option. Everytime my eyes closed the blackness just sent me right back to that dark Hell. Instead I just laid there for hours, lights on, with my eyes wide open staring at a paint chip on the wall. I didn't allow myself to think. I just blocked everything out.

A knock on my door sent my head reeling and put my senses on high alert. I flew up and almost fell right off the bed. But ghosts didn't knock.

"Chloe....it's morning....are you awake?" Simon's voice was muffled through the door. "I brought you some breakfast"

Simon. Of course he would come. Again, trying to pick up the pieces and to offer me comfort like so many times before. I was stuck between just pretending to be asleep or letting him in. It was so typical of Simon to come at a time like this and it's not that I didn't appreciate it. He's always been so nice to me. But I wasn't sure if I wanted sympathy right now and I wasn't ready for the inevitable small talk that he always provided. There was no doubt in my mind that after telling me everything was OK he would try to talk about his comic books or a movie to get my mind off of what I had just experienced. All I wanted though was someone to be there, without all of the talking. That would be enough.

I wrestled with a reponse for a few minutes but when the smell of eggs and bacon reached my nose my stomach made the decision for me. I might have been scared but I couldn't deny that I was hungry, and after weeks of living off of junk food or whatever we could find I had leard never to pass up a hot meal.

"Come on in Simon," I mummbled half-heartedly.

He came through the door with the same friendly smile as always. I smiled back and though it was fake, I knew Simon would never be able to tell. He brought the food over to me and I immediately scarffed it down. I could hear him talking about something but I wasn't actually listening. As long as I smiled and nodded in the appropriate places he would be pleased. I played my part well until Simon placed his hand on mine.

The contact made me jump. My nerves were still on end and even though hand-holding was a common gesture for Simon I was still a bit surprised.

He laughed shaking a head full of blonde hair. "Always jumpy."

Of course I was jumpy...did he not realize that I was attacked by a ghost last night? Did he not understand that my mind had been invaded by a dead, pissed off homeless man?

But not wanting to discuss previous events I just giggled and nodded, but still slipped my hand away. For once, I didn't want to hold it.

This revelation suprised me. Simon and I seemed to be headed towards being a couple. Isn't hand holding typical couple behavior? I should be excited, and to be honest I usually was, but something was off now. I couldn't explain it. I just chalked up my weirdness to shock and let it go. I dismissed Simon by telling him that I was still exhausted and wanted to get some more sleep.

He looked at me in awe and made a comment about my constant sleeping, but smiled, grabbed the empty tray and left the room.

Just as I was about to resume my regimine of staring at the wall a hand touched my shoulder. Again I nearly shot through the roof. If the Edison Group didn't kill me first, a heart attack would.

My head turned to find Derek towering over me. God I wished he would stop sneaking up on me like that. Next time Tori and Andrew go shopping I'm going to make sure they get him a bell.

"How are you?" He grunted.

"Fine I guess," I said and plastered on the same fake smile that I had given Simon. Derek didn't fall for my act so easily.

"Right..." He said sarcastically.

I didn't feel like responding that so I just sighed and turned back to my wall.

"I didn't tell anyone," Derek said in a softer voice. "I figured I let you do it if you wanted. But I didn't want you to have to talk about it if you weren't ready yet."

So that explained Simon's ignorance. He didn't know. He had thought I was just being lazy by sleeping all day. At that moment I felt so much gratitude for Derek. He had saved my life so many times and now he was saving my sanity.

"Thank you" I said sincerely. "Not just for last night. You're right, I didn't want to talk about it at all. I just want it to go away, pretend it never happened."

"You shouldn't do that Chloe," he said as he sad on the corner of my bed. "It's not healthy. You should talk to Simon. He'll want to know and you need to deal with this."

I sat up and nodded knowing I had no intention of telling Simon anything. Derek must have seen through my facade and in a very un-Derek like way put a hand on my knee and squeezed. My eyes followed his hand up his arm. God it was big. I couldn't believe those muscles were real. I had only seen arms like that in magazines. I wanted to touch them just to see what they would feel like, but immediately stopped myself. I didn't want Derek to think that I had gone completely insane. And now I was beginning to think that maybe I had. To keep the odd impulse to touch his bicepts at bay I turned my attention to his face. He really did look better. The acne was almost gone and the grease in his hair wasn't even noticable. I started to feel warm. Yep I was crazy.

"What?" Derek grunted as he withdrew his hand.

"Nothing" I said quickly. "Just thanks"

He just nodded, got up, left. "You really should talk to Simon." He said over his shoulder.

"Sure," I replied as I watched him leave.

I tried to just lay back down but for some reason I was feeling antsy now so I got up to explore. I managed to avoid everyone and made it outside without having to answer any questions. I decided to return to the forest, only now I went in a different direction than I had when I led the ghost here. I walked and walked allowing the fresh air and quiet clear my mind. The peacefulness consumed me causing me to lose all track of time. I guess I had walked farther than I thought because I eventually came across what looked like to be an old abandoned shed. The roof was rotting through and some of the boards had been stripped off the side. I went up to it curiously. I didn't know the forest that well so it didn't surprise me that I had discovered something that I hadn't seen before, but Derek was always in the forest. It was where he took his daily runs. I was sure he hadn't mentioned anything like this earlier and I didn't think he would keep something like this a secret. Derek loved his secrets, but this didn't look important enough for him to want to keep under wraps. The fact that Derek hadn't even seen this only confirmed that I had travelled extremely far.

The door was padlocked but the wood was so deteriorated that I was able to just peel the chunk of door away that it was attatched too. With a twinge of excitement I creaked it open.

As soon as my eyes adjusted to the light I immediately regretted my decision to play investigator. I tried to wrap my mind around what I was seeing.

What I saw was put out here for a reason. Something none of us were meant to see. 


	3. Nothing is as it Seems

Disclaimer: Darkest Powers=not mine

I didn't really understand what I was seeing at first. It didn't add up.

In the middle of the stale, antiquated shed was a thin metal bed much like ones you would see in a hospital, complete with a number of machines that stood on either side of it. The bed had four large rings attached to it. Two on the sides and two at the foot. Obviously meant to go around it's occupants wrists and ankles for restraint. Over the bed hung a shiny silver object that couldn't be described anyother way than an upside down pasta strainer, or what you would put your hair under to dry at the salon. It seemed harmless enough, but the cords that sprouted from it supplying it with electricity told me that it was anything but that....It was just large enough to fit a human head. Not five feet away was a table covered with an assortment of scalpels, knives, needles and other medical instruments that I recognized from watching hospital shows on TV back when my life was somewhat normal and I wasn't seeing dead people or running for my life. They shined with light as the sun hit them through the cracks on the walls and reflected dancing spots onto the ceiling.

The overall condition of the equipment was unexpected. It all looked so clean and new causing it to stand in stark contrast against the rotting walls that contained it. The outside may have been old, but the inside had definitely been recently renovated.

What was this place?

Maybe Andrew had a thing for playing doctor. I didn't know the guy very well, but I would have never thought he was that* weird. And what was with the creepy location?

I noticed a desk in the corner and walked over to see if I could find any clues that would help me figure out what the purpose of all this was. After a few minutes of rummaging through drawers I came across an old brown book that was badly stained. I flipped it open gingerly so as not to damage the pages. It was a bunch of data charts with names, observations and results colums running down the page. When I saw this my heart stopped. It was eerily similar to what I had seen during my most recent stay at the hospital my Aunt Lauren had sent me back to after running away the first time. The Edison Group had a document just like these for me, Derek, Tori, Rae, Liz and a few others saved on Davidoff's computer to record the progression of our powers, if we were controllable, and whether or not we were considered to be recovered... or meant to be terminated. This was a record book of supernatural experiments. With this the book fell from my hands with a thud as it hit the floor.

It all made sense now. This wasn't some sort of old creepy hospital room. It was a room of torture. And I was sure the Edison Group had created it.

They had constructed a place where they could treat supernaturals like science projects and preform experiements on them similar to the ones that Samuel Lyle had preformed many years ago in the Lyle House before ultimately murdering them. I recalled the night when Tori had kidnapped me and trapped me in the crawl space in the basement where I had raised my first corpses on accident. One had told me Samuel Lyel had even electricuted his subjects until they bit off their tongues. All in the name of "helping" and "learning more about" them. How noble of him.

But why was this set up here? So close to Andrew's? I had known that he had worked for the Edison Group at one time, but now he was helping us fight them. Why would this place still exist on his property? Why did the equipment look like it actually worked? And most importantly hat did this mean for us? I couldn't answer these questions now but I silently swore to get to the bottom it.

I took one last disgusted survey of the room and then I felt it. The dull headache, the hair standing up on the back of my neck, the bad feeling in my gut. There were bodies here. More than one. I had already figured out that I definitely wasn't supposed to be here and the addition of corpses hiding somewhere unseen was just too much. I needed to go.

I fled from the room and sprinted the entire way back to the Safe House.

Out of breath and wheezing, I flung open the door and I smacked straight into Tori.

"Geeze Chloe watch where youre going," she spat at me. "And what were you doing outside anyway? I didn't even see you leave." She looked at me questioningly with one thin eyebrow arched up. She hated being out of the loop. I was going to tell her eventually....after I talked to Derek.

"Tori. Not. Now." I narrowed my eyes when I said this hoping that she would get the hint and shut up for once. I doubted it would have any effect since Tori hadn't kept her thoughts to herself at all in the time that I'd known her, not to mention that I was probably the least threatening person...well, ever, but it was worth a shot. I turned on my heel and bolted up the stairs to Derek and Simon's room, hoping to find Derek alone.

"You WILL tell me," Tori yelled to my back.

Before I reached the top of the stairs Derek was already coming out of his room.

"What's going on? Why is everyone yelling?" When he said this Tori's voice bellowed up the stairs.

"I MEAN IT CHLOE!"

A look of annoyance crossed his features. Tori's voice was loud to me, so I knew with Derek's super sensitive hearing it must have been about a thousand times worse.

"Are you alone in there?" I whispered the words, gesturing to his room.

"Yeah...." His eyebrows bunched together. "Simon's in the shower. Why?"

Without answering, I grabbed his hand, pulled him into the room and locked the door behind us.

"Chloe what the...."

I cut him off and quickly explained what I had seen.

AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry it's so short! I have the whole thing written but I decided to split it up into two chapters. Partly because it works out better that way, and also because I'm having so much fun writing this that I'm trying to drag it out as long as possible! I promise to update extremely soon most likely tomorrow, but thursday at the latest....only if yall keep up with the reviews :) If I don't get reviews then it may take just a bit longer for me to get the next chapter out! lol And trust me things are about to get reallllllly crazy!  
Thanks for reading! 


	4. Misunderstood

Disclaimer: Darkest Powers is mine...oh wait no it isn't

When I finished speaking Derek raked his hand through his shaggy black hair and turned his head to look out the window deep in thought. I watched his profile from my seat on the bed next to him waiting for him to speak. I had told him my suspicions that the Edison Group was behind the facility in the woods, and that it only seemed logical that Andrew was involved. It was happening right in his back yard and it just didn't seem possible that he wouldn't notice what was going on.

I knew this would be hard for Derek to accept. He had known Andrew for almost all of his childhood. Andrew had been good friends with his father and though they had had a falling out, still remained in touch throughout the years. While Andrew had always seemed a little intimidated by Derek he had never done anything to harm him or betray his trust. To Derek, Andrew was another family member, the equivalent of an Uncle...not quite part of his "pack" like his adopted father and Simon, but next in line. He would never suspect anything of Andrew and I understood, but after being betrayed by my own Aunt Lauren who had practically raised me I had learned that even those closest to you could decieve you. Not that I didn't still love Aunt Lauren. She had helped me escape, explained herself to me in a letter and apologized. I had forgiven her, but that didn't erase her actions.

I shook the thought from my head. Thinking of Aunt Lauren was too difficult. I still didn't know her fate. Derek said that it was just an illusion spell cast by a magician when I saw her in the woods the night the Edison Group caught up with us, but I couldn't help but question his assessment. The last time I had seen her in person, she had been injured badly. And then there was the fact that I alone saw her in the woods that night...and only I could see ghosts...

But couldn't dwell on that. It was too depressing and there were more pressing issues that needed attention at the moment.

When I realized that I wouldn't get a response out of Derek anytime soon I took action.

"What are we going to do?" I asked. "What do you think it means?"

"I'm not sure", he said glancing at me. "It doesn't sound good, but I want to see it. We'll go first thing in the morning."

When I started to protest he held up a hand to stop me. "It's already getting dark and while I may have night vision, you definitely don't. It wouldn't be a good idea to go out there just so you can bump into trees all night. We wont make much progress that way and if there is someone there they could hear us. We're waiting. And anyways we need to tell Simon and Tori. They should probably go with us incase we need to make a break for it. A few extra sets of eyes would also be useful to keep a lookout."

It didn't matter that his decision was logical. I was unhappy with it, ready to solve this mystery now, but knew it would do no good to protest. He thought I was stubborn but I'd never met anyone more unwilling to change their mind. I also knew that Derek usually did what's best for the group so I trusted that this time was no different. With great effort I kept my mouth shut and nodded.

"And Chloe," he said looking down at me again, "Don't go off by yourself like that anymore. If something happened and I didn't hear in time..."

As he spoke his eyes bore into mine causing my gut to twist and jump. Normally what he said would have angered me. I was a big girl and could go walking around without a chaperone no matter how incompetent considered me, but this time his words sounded more like they came from a place of concern rather than disapproval. My heart beat loudly against my chest to the point where I was sure he could hear it. Why did I feel like this? Nerves must really be getting to me these days.

A knock on the door interrupted him. He just cleared his throat, considering his point made and got up to let Simon in.

"Why's the door locked bro?" Simon said as he walked in, only a towel wrapped around his waist. "What're you do---Chloe?"

Simon looked from Derek to me his brows furrowing in confusion. "What are you two doing in here? Should I be jealous....?"

"Just talking." Derek said gruffly looking at the wall instead of his brother. "We'll explain later when Tori's around. I don't want to have to repeat the story twice."

Again, Simon's eyes bounced back and forth nervously between Derek and I. I could only imagine what he expected. It did look pretty bad for a guy and a girl to be locked in a room together, not to mention the fact that I was sitting on Dereks bed.

His eyes went to Derek again and sensing no threat just sighed with a slight smile, shook his head and muttered something about secrets.

It sort of offended me that Simon was so quick to dismiss the chance that Derek could actually be involved with a girl. Even if it hadn't been me sitting on the bed, Simon's reaction would have been the same. I knew he would have just assumed nothing was happening. Everyone thought that way about Derek, with good reason I suppose. His exterior was quiet, brooding, short tempered, impatient and definitely unfriendly but it was because no one had ever given him a chance. Sadness shot through me as I looked at Derek and thought about how people responded to him. To everyone he was just a giant, dangerous, werewolf who could snap at any minute but what they failed to understand was that none of that defined Derek. He was one of the most loyal, selfless people I had ever met and he would never, could never, hurt anyone intentionally. Just because other werewolves were known to be hostile and vicious didn't mean Derek automatically fell into that category. He was constantly being punished for the mistakes of the rest of his kind. I had seen the evil in Liam and Ramon's eyes and that evil was completely absent in Derek's. He wasn't like the others at all. Sure he was snappy and rude but that was the only way Derek knew to deal with people. They were always assuming the worst of him, never giving him a chance, so why should he bother with being polite? People made up thier minds about him as soon as they met him. Even I was guilty of this in the beginning. It didn't make his behavior OK, but it did explain why he was the way he was. And worst of all, because of this, Derek was starting to believe he actually was a monster. He had never forgiven himself for hurting that kid a few years ago, even it was to protect Simon. The guilt would always haunt him. I thought back to the time we were in the coffee shop bathroom after the fight with Liam and Ramon. I remembered the silence when I asked him if he actually wanted to be killed by the Pack because that's what he thought he deserved. He had seriously considered it even though he told me otherwise. My heart ached at the memory.

I knew Simon didn't mean to treat Derek that way. Simon wasn't that type of person and he loved Derek, but I could sometimes see in his eyes that he feared him, no matter how well he tried to hide it. And Derek had obviously never had girls swarming like Simon did so I could see why Simon would just blow off the situation....but still.

I turned my attention back to Simon, the closest thing to a boyfriend I'd ever had. As he was searching for a shirt I couldn't help but notice his body. Compared to Derek he looked like a twig. The muscles were definitely there but were way less defined than Derek's. As I looked at both of them the difference was almost comical. It was like seeing Superman next to your typical high school student. Like night and day.

Simon noticed me looking and smiled. I blushed and glanced down knowing he'd misinterpreted my staring. I wasn't embarassed because I knew he liked me, probably more than he should, but it made me a little uncomfortable. It wasn't that I didn't like Simon. I liked him a lot. He was a great friend and I sure never complained before about him holding my hand or carrying on about movies with me. We really did have a lot in common, but lately I'd felt like he was more of a brother than anything else. My feelings probably changed because of the stress I'd been under, but I had started to wonder if they would ever return to the way they were before.

I stood up, ashamed at myself for even thinking about boys at a time like this. I needed to get my priorities straight.

"We'll talk after dinner," I declared. "I'll tell Tori and we'll all meet in my room. Try not to come at the same time so Andrew doesn't notice our meeting." And without another glance at the boys I strode out the door.

_____

After dinner, we conviened as planned. Surprisingly, Derek allowed me to be the one to relay the information to the group.

"Um...so what?" Tori said with skepticism as soon as I had finished. "There's a creepy old room...that doesn't mean anything. It's probably not even being used."

"But Chloe said the inside looked as good as new," Derek retorted. "That gives us reason to believe that it is*. Or at least that it's being planned to be used."

"And I sensed bodies, lot's of them. That's not a good sign," I added. "Plus, what would a place like that be doing on Andrew's property?"

"Ok but incase you all haven't noticed," Tori said deliberately slowly,"Andrew took us in. He gave us food and a place to sleep. Just stop being paranoid for five minutes. He's clearly not the bad guy here."

"I know he's been good to us Tori," I responded, "and I would never suspect him with out reason. But how do we know that his kindness wasn't just a trap to hold us here until the Edison Group finished that experiment room? Our guard has been down and they could take advantage of that. Believe me I hope I'm wrong and it's totally possible that Andrew doesn't even know that the building exists, but we cant deny that it's suspicious and it couldn't hurt to check it out."

"Chloe's right." Simon spoke for the first time jumping up to stand beside me and grab my hand in his. "Somethings fishy. We definately need to check it out."

"Of course you'd take her side," Tori spat. Simon just glared in her direction.

Derek, not wanting to deal with their bickering nodded and headed toward the door. He glanced over his shoulder and grunted, "Tomorrow morning."

I could hardly sleep that night in anticipation. I was worried about accidently raising one of the corpses out there, and even more worried about what they would reveal. If we found out that the Edison Group was plotting another way to capture us and preform their crazy experiments, what would we do? Would we have to go on the run again? And what would it do to Derek and Simon if Andrew turned out to be involved? I wasn't sure that I could take much more of this.

I'm sure I hadn't been asleep for more than an hour before Derek tapped on the door and walked in.

"We need to go down to breakfast," he whispered. "Andrew's cooking and he needs to see all of us so he doesn't come looking."

We all walked down together and Andrew greeted us with a smile and a plate of pancakes.

"Good morning!" he exclaimed. "You all are up early! It's a good thing I decided to make pancakes now instead of later." I smiled at him, but it felt wrong on my face.

We sat down and had a quiet, but tense breakfast. I kept sneaking glances at Derek terrifyed that Andrew would notice something was up. But every time Derek just met my gaze with a look of reassurance. Andrew sure looked perfectly fine, just smiling, drinking his coffee and reading the paper as usual.

After breakfast we cleaned off our plates and when we were sure Andrew was situated in his room down the hall, made our way to the cabin.

I knew the general direction that it was in but I wasn't entirely sure how to get there after a certain point. I hadn't exactly been paying attention to my surroundings that day, a fact that I immediately regretted. Luckily Derek was with us and I had managed to get us close enough where he said he could smell the bodies. His nose could lead us straight there.

"Oh God, he's so weird," Tori said with her nose wrinkled in discuss as Derek sniffed the air. I shot her a look that I hoped warned her to shut up and we kept walking.

Finally, we approached the shed. Derek entered first followed by Simon and then me. Tori decided to wait outside saying that she preferred not to be in an old moldy shed. None of us had the energy or desire to argue with her so we allowed her to remain where she was.

"Woah," Simon said looking around in disbelief. "Youre right Chloe this place is not good at all."

Derek had a look of intense concentration on his face as he searched every square inch of the room.

We continued like that for a couple of minutes until Derek suddenly stiffined, his eyes going wide with alert. He cursed under his breath.

"Derek what is it," I asked rushing towards him.

"I wasn't paying attention," he whispered, "Someone's coming...now."

Almost immediately we heard a muffled scream come from outside. Tori. I rushed toward the door but Derek grabbed my arm pulling me back behind him. Simon came closer to us.

"It's him." Derek growled.

A dark shadow appeared in the door frame of the shed.

"Tsk tsk tsk," It mocked, "We're in trouble now aren't we?"

NOTE: Hope yall enjoyed the chapter! Please please please keep up with the reviews! They keep me motivated to continue!  
Thanks for reading! :) 


	5. The Living and the Dead

WOW I didn't expect school to get so crazy so quickly so I'd like to apologize for taking so long to post this! I tried to make it extra long though to make up for lost time. Brace yourselves. I hope you like it!! and thanks for reading!

Disclaimer- Darkest Powers is not mine in any way, though I sure wish it was.

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"Davidoff." I whispered as the light hit the shadowy figure exposing him.

"Now you have two options. Would you care to hear them?" Davidoff asked with a touch of sarcasm. As he approached us I noticed the same expression on his face that he had had when I first met him, a kind, grandfatherly smile that barely concealed the arrogance underneath. He was still the same actor playing the part of the quirky scientist. If only it wasn't a lie. I didn't even want to think about the horrible things that he had in store for us. If the contents of this room and the dead bodies near by that were still making me feel on edge were any indication of our future then to say that things weren't looking good would have been an understatement.

Derek just growled in response and grabbed my arm pulling me behind him so that he was seperating me and Davidoff.

"Well then," Davidoff said cheerfully. "Since you all have conveniently walked into our hands, you can either come with us peacefully or we can make you. I sincerely hope you choose the first option because we really are doing this all for your own good."

"Bull shit." I spat at him spitefully. Derek motioned for me to be quiet.

It didn't escape me that Davidoff had said "us" and "we". I guess I should have known he couldn't have been alone. While he was the brains behind the Edison Group he definitely wasn't their star fighter. Not that he didn't have the ability. He was a half-demon who could move things telepathically but from what I'd seen of him he'd never been too aggressive, other than the fact that he wanted to preform horrible experiments on us. He seemed like the kind of person who wanted others to do his dirty work. Once we were captured and contained then he would step in.

Since we were still rooted to the spot, he assumed correctly that we had chosen the second option. There was no way that we were just going to give ourselves up after all of this. We had to fight. Davidoff glanced toward the door. "Mrs. Enright."

Tori's mother walked into the room with a disgusted look on her face. We were in trouble now. Her evil eyes bore into mine and all I could think about was how heartless this woman was. She had treated her own daughter like scum, had come at us with tranqulizer guns, not to mention that she was an extremely powerful witch. When she was involved nothing was ever pleasant or easy.

"Sorry." She grumbled. "I was dealing with my worthless daughter. Now....."

Tori. I wondered what had happened to her. All I had heard was a muffled scream. I could only hope that Mrs. Enright had shown some mercy and hadn't done any serious damage. The chances of that were unlikely, but Tori, being the daughter of a witch and a sorcerer, was a very interesting subject to the scientists at the Edison Group. There was no one else like her. They couldn't do any serious damage now if they hoped to conduct their experiments and try to reign in her power in the future. The thought wasn't very comforting though because there was no guarantee, no matter how unique Tori was that they wouldn't hurt her significantly later. The Edison Group had a bad reputation of killing their genetically modified subjects if they didn't turn out as planned. I'd experienced this first hand with Liz and judging by the dead bodies that were hanging around here, things obviously hadn't changed.

Now that Mrs. Enright was here I wondered about Andrew. Was he about to come creeping in just like the other two and tell us how stupid and naive we had been? Simon voiced my thoughts.

"Andrew." he said nervously. "Where is he?"

"Ahh how nice of you to ask, "Mrs. Enright said with mocking sweetness. "He's fine. We've taken care of him."

My stomach sank. They had taken care of him? Did that mean killed? This was horrible. I was wrong. Andrew hadn't been involved and I didn't even want to imagine what they had done to him.

"What do you mean?" Simon asked with a quiver still in his voice.

"That's of little consequence to you, but he's back in our hands, " snapped Mrs. Enright. "When I heard that our charming little Chloe had stumbled upon our project...Did you really think I would leave this place unwatched and unprotected?" She said when she saw my eyes widen and looked at me like I was an ignorant five year old. "Really, it was stupid of you Chloe to traipse back in here with your little friends, but I guess youve never proven to be too smart...anyways, after I heard about Chloe's discovery I knew that she would suspect Andrew, and when I saw you all coming out here to play dective all alone with out him to guard you things just got even better. Your suspision left both you all and him unprotected, so thank you for that. Our job only got easier. But enough explanations."

"Yes," Davidoff nodded. "Alright kids, I'm sorry it has to be this way, but youll understand sooner or later."

Mrs. Enright raised her hands and prepared to attack.

My mind immediately started racing,trying to figure out something to get us out of this, but I was coming up blank. We were trapped, and if there were other Edison employees waiting outside as I suspected, then there just wasn't a way out. Simon wasn't very powerful and since I could only see ghosts I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything. I hoped Derek was working out a plan in his head. He was the only one with any real fighting power, but what good would his strength do against a telepath, a witch and who knows what else. I could feel my hope draining.

"Don't worry." Mrs. Enright said. "You don't need to end up like the others." Her chin jerked down towards the floor. "...Yet...I know you know they're here Chloe, how could you not?" With that motion I immediately knew that that's where the bodies were.

Under the floorboards, just like they had been hidden down below the Lyle House. Now that I could pin point their exact location I couldn't ignore them. I could almost hear them stirring around, unquiet spirits that died an untimely death, and they all wanted revenge. I was scared. Angry ghosts were not pleasant and if something happened and I raised them...well I didn't want to think about it.

I looked up at Derek who was looking at the floor with his brows furrowed deep in thought like the dead bodies were giving him inspiration. Then suddenly he shot a meaning full glance toward me and his eyes said everything. He motioned his hand downward where Mrs. Enright and Davidoff couldn't see...and I knew what he was thinking. I wasn't completely useless in this situation. I could create an army to protect us all. An army of the undead.

My fear of the ghosts suddenly vanished. They weren't angry at me, they were angy at the Edison Group. Of course if I summoned them they would help me, not only because I had the power to controll them, but because we were united against a common enemy. Derek, Simon and I were fighting for our freedom. The ghosts were fighting for the freedom that they had lost.

I was lost in thought and time seemed to stop. A loud crash brought me back to reality. Apparently Mrs. Enright wasn't waiting for my revelation. I looked around to find the cause of the crash and saw Simon against the far wall tangeled up in the machines. She had used a knock back spell.

"Stall" I whispered in a voice so quiet that only Derek would hear.

He immediately lunged at Mrs. Enright who was still focused on Simon. He knocked her back onto the metal bed catching her off guard. The bed snapped in half. A blow like this should have hurt a normal human, but Mrs. Enright immediately got up and hit Derek with another spell causing him to rise off the ground and slam into a wall. I guess her hate and adrenaline caused her to ignore the pain of her fall. I was worried about Derek but I needed to trust that he could handle himself for now.

The three of them were struggling in the corner completely forgetting about me. They didn't think there was much I could do anyway so of course all of there attention would be on the six foot something werewolf.

I placed all of my concentration on the bodies under the floorboards and turned my power level on high for the first time. After a few tense seconds, I stopped. No one had noticed what I was doing, and to be honest I doubted if I had even done anything at all. There was no change. I had failed.

I turned back to the three supernaturals fighting and an unconscious Simon, preparing to fight. I wouldn't just stand there idly.

Then I felt something.

The floor was pounding. There were beating sounds coming from underneath. It had worked! I had raised the bodies.

Still forgotten by the others I dropped to my knees and started tearing at the floorboards. It was a shockingly easy task since the boards were so rotted. The Edison group had picked the oldest, creepiest, place for their new experiment room, that's for sure. I focused intensly on my task trying to raise my army as fast as possible. Mrs. Enright's voice gave me a jolt.

"What are you doing kid?!" she screamed at me and then lunged in my direction. Derek made a grab for her.

"Hurry Chloe!" he called desperately.

Mrs. Enright came at me so quickly, I barely had time to react. Before I knew it she had hit me with some sort of spell that not only knocked me off my feet, but made the room spin like I was riding on a merry-go-round. All I could see was her and Davidoff advancing toward me. Then, a large figure stepped in front of them blocking their way. Thank God for Derek.

Derek's interferrence made my head go clear. I looked to my right and saw three gruesome corpses staggering around and one still trying to escape from its grave beneath the floor.

"Stop!" I yelled to them. Since they had no choice but to obey me they had to. "I'm sorry to have raised you, but I need your help."

One of the corpses looked at Mrs. Enright and Davifoff. I could have sworn I saw it's decomposing eyes narrow. Good, they recognized them.

They couldn't speak to me, only ghosts were capaple of that, but they still grunted their approval when I told them to attack.

By this time both of our enemies were frozen in shock. One of the corpses, a young adult, male charged right into them. This woke Mrs. Enright out of her stupor and she immediately hit him with a knock back spell. When he hit the ground Davidoff telepathically sent one of the sharp instruments straight at the corpses chest, but to no avail. The corpse just got right back up and the rest of my army joined him. There was nothing that the Edison Group could do. No matter how powerful either of them were they couldn't kill something that was already dead, and the corpses wouldn't stop until I called them off.

I ran over to Derek and grasped his arm. He looked down at me approvingly, his head nodding slightly to tell me that I had done the right thing. There was nothing left for us to do now except sit back and watch the struggle.

Davidoff and Mrs. Enright fought for what seemed like hours until they finally realized that the corpses would not allow them to get to us. There was nothing that they could do except admitt defeat. Mrs. Enright picked up her radio and I heard her say "Get the car."

They ran for the door and I ordered my troops to follow them to make sure that they were really gone. Derek and I followed them all outside, running behind them until we reached Andrew's cabin and saw them hop into a large truck.

"This isn't over." Mrs. Enright sneered as they drove away. I knew she was right. This was a small victory but she would be back, they would all be back until they got what they wanted. Until they got us.

"Chloe." Derek whispered. "You can release them now."

"I looked at the corpses and thanked them all before releasing them. They dropped lifelessly to the ground and I hoped with all my heart that they would never be disturbed again. My only wish though was to find out exactly what had happened to them, but that would mean another summoning and it just seemed wrong to do it to them twice in a day. They had already helped us enough.

Derek tugged my arm breaking me out of my reverie. "We need to get Simon and Tori and get out of here."

I nodded. "Where will we go?"

"I don't know." he said casting his glance downward. Derek hated not knowing. "We'll figure something out but for now we need to leave incase they decide to come back for round two."

I could tell Derek's thoughts had drifted to his father. Our whole mission was to find him so that we could save the others. Not having Andrew around would make it so much harder, but somehow I knew that we would find him. There had to be a way.

Derek and I trudged back to the forest in scilence and found our way back to the cabin. Tori was unconscious outside but was easily shaken awake. Simon was a little harder but he eventually got up too, uninjured for the most part.

"What the---" Tori looked around in annoyance.

"Later" Derek grumbled.

"We have to go don't we?" Simon said. "I know where Andrew kept the tent that we used to camp in. We can take it with us."

Derek nodded and we all walked back to the house ignoring Tori's complaints about having to leave and sleep in a tent. She didn't remember much about the incident so she didn't understand that what we were doing was absolutely necessary. She just knew that we were being difficult, and she didn't like it. We let her go on ranting and raving though. No one wanted to rehash the previous events just yet.

After we grabbed the tent Derek suggested that we head toward the direction of the truck stop that we had arrived at only last week. We could at least get some food there. He didn't think that it was safe to try to smuggle four people into a truck, but we could at least camp there for the night until we figured out what our next move would be. With our destination set, we walked down the road away from our old safe haven.

And that was it.

Just like that we were on our own again. Only this time, we didn't have Andrew to run to for saftey. There would be no other "Safe House", I had made sure of that. It was my fault that Andrew was taken away from us. If I hadn't been so suspicious and untrusting of him then we wouldn't be in this position. If I would have just told him about the room in the first place he could have at least come with us to check it out, or devised a plan of action, but instead I pointed an accusing finger at the man who was nothing but kind to us, who took us in and allowed us to have the first feeling of security in weeks, who made us breakfast in the mornings, supplied us with a place to sleep, and above all promised us help in our fight for freedom against the Edison Group. This was the man I'd distrusted and because of my paranoia he had been captured. What was happening to me? I usually wasn't so quick to judge or condemn people. This whole being on the run thing was really messing with my head.

So once again it was Simon, Derek, Tori and me back in the same position that we were in just a few weeks ago: alone, on the run and pretty much clueless. Only now we had more things to worry about. Without Andrew we had lost not only our guardian, but the one who could have provided useful inside information about the Edison Group considering his history with them. Not to mention that he was an experienced and well practiced sorcerer who would have been a vital asset for our coop. I'm sure Simon was hoping that Anrew could have trained him to be a better sorcerer. Simon had struggled with his powers in was that Tori did not and this left him feeling inadequate, I could tell, though he'd never really shown it.

After about an hour of walking we reached the truck stop. Simon, Tori and I snuck around back and headed deep into the woods to set up the tent. Derek went in to get some food since he could have easily passed for an adult. No one would question whether or not he was supposed to be there.

No one really said that much. We ate in silence and then went to sleep in silence. We all had too much on our minds. What would we do next? How would we find Derek and Simon's Dad? What would the Edison Group try now? And how much more of this could we even handle?

I woke up from an uneasy sleep a few hours later. Tori and Simon were softly snoring but Derek was absent. I cautiously went out side and wondered around until I cound him sitting on a log about twenty feet away.

"Derek." I whispered. "Are you ok?"

"I fine Chloe." he grumbled. "Go back to sleep."

I ignored his comment and walked over to him. I felt so bad for Derek. He always felt the need to protect and carry all of our burdens. He was always there to take care of us, but who took care of Derek? I hoped that my small contribution of helping him change at least compensated a fraction of what he had done for us. I took a seat next to him.

"Chloe-" he started to argue but I just cut him off and told him to shut up. I wasn't going to let him sit out here alone. He stopped arguing and allowed me to take a seat, though I could tell he didn't want me to.

"I'm sorry." I said in a barely audible voice after a few minutes of sitting in silence. "This is all my fault."

"It's not Chloe." he said turning his head so that his gaze focused on my now tear filled eyes. Pieces of his dark hair skimmed over his brow. "Stop blaming yourself."

"But I suspected him....and now he's gone....and we have nothing"

"We all suspected him." He awkwardly touched my hand in reassurance but removed it immediately, clearing his throat and continuing gruffly. "Don't worry. We'll get out of this. I've been thinking about places to start searching for my dad. We can do this, and we can save Andrew. Everyone else too." I could tell that he didn't entirely believe what he was saying, but it was what I needed to hear at the time. "You did good today Chloe. You saved us, don't forget that." The fact that Derek was saying something so kind, so un-Derek like just made me cry even more, though not out of sadness. It was a mixture of relief and fear at what the future would have in store.

My throat ached. I needed someone. I needed the comfort, even if only for a second. I knew Derek wouldn't like it, but I reached out and put his hand back in mine. He started to pull away so I just gripped tighter. Eventually, his hand relaxed and his thumb rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand. The heat coming from his hand was incredible, but exactly what I needed. I felt the warmth creep over me as I looked down at my tiny hand completely engulfed in his. For the first time in a while, I felt good.

"We're going to be ok." he said. "I promise."

I just nodded and we both stared into the darkness.

NOTE: hmmm what will happen next time?? Review review review!! Hope yall liked it! 


	6. Revelation

So this is a low key chapter. I wanted to give the kiddos a break from all the chaos, but trust me something very exciting revelation in this chapter, at least in my opinion!  
Also, if anyone has suggestions (other than Chloe and Derek hooking up...I understand that practically everyone wants that, myself included!) feel free to send me a private message and I'll see what I can do!  
And of course please review! I know this is a shorty, but I'm going to try to post a new chapter ASAP.

Disclaimer- Kelly Armstrong owns the Darkest Powers, and sadly my name is NOT Kelly Armstrong.

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Our sleeping situation was far from ideal. Sharing the small tent had been a struggle. First of all, it was extremely cramped even though it ended up being only Simon, Tori and myself because Derek wanted to stay outside to keep watch, and probably do a little brooding like always. I had a feeling that he had some other reasons for staying outside the tent. He was always self concious about his size and I'm sure that being crammed into a small place with the rest of us would only remind him of his physical differences. He had allowed me to sit with him outside the tent for a while, probably because he felt sorry for me and a little obligated but still, no matter the motive, it was nice. I mean, I had just raised my first corpses, intentionally at least, and had gotten our only adult guardian captured. I needed some reassurance and Derek had provided that and actually acted sincere about it and not like I had just ruined everything we had worked for. He also, to my surprise didn't immediately refer me to Simon who was "better at that kind of thing". It wasn't long though before he forced me to go back into the tent and sleep.

That morning we woke up late by our usual standards. Before our stay at the Safe House we had always woken up at the crack of dawn to make sure that the most ground possible was covered during the day, but that was when there was a destination. Now, none of us had a clue where we were going so it didn't matter much that we slept in until ten o'clock. There's no hurry when you have no place to be, I guess. I could only hope that Derek had formulated a plan during all that brooding last night because to be honest, he was the only one capable of doing so.

"Well I'm not staying in that thing for another night..." Tori wrinkled her nose at the tent like it smelled bad.

Derek and I had caught her up to date on everything that had happened while she was passed out courtesy of her evil mother...if mother was even the right word. However, what we considered to be an epic battle and a necessity, she only considered to be a nussence.

"Let's just go back to the safe house and actually sleep in a bed, "she continued. "It's not like anyones coming back with Chloes freaky friends hanging around."

Derek gave her a murderous stare in response. Simon stepped in to prevent a fight.

"But now that they know what they are up against they could bring back reinforcements. It's not safe and it's not a risk we should take right now."

"Big deal, Chloe can just raise more zombies." She spat sending a disgusted look in my direction. The fact that I could raise the dead completely weirded her out.

"No. She. Can't. There's not exactly a never ending supply," Derek growled impatiently. "Stop whining. We need to leave and that's it."

"Fine. But where are we going, and how are we getting there? Last time I checked we left the truck back at the house."

No one knew the answer to that. Where could we go? How would we find Derek and Simon's dad now without Andrew?

Tori's eyebrows raised. "That's what I thought."

Derek looked like he might actually kill her.

"Tori," I said quickly. "We need water and Derek forgot to get some from the truck stop. Think you could run down to the river and get some?"

I thought for sure she would argue about doing manual labor but she just looked at me and sighed. "Fine. Anything to get away from you guys."

As she walked away I turned to Derek. "So...she has a point. Where are we going to go exactly?"

He ignored me and turned to Simon. "Do you remember Dad talking about any other friends? Any other people that he seemed to trust?"

"No," Simon shook his head. "It was always Andrew."

"Well I was thinking last night about our options, and I remembered Dad talking about something. He didn't mention them very often, maybe once or twice. There was another group of supernaturals rebelling somewhere but it was so far away that no one really payed much attention to them. He didn't even think the Edison Group knew about them. Ugh I don't know, I wish I could remember. Sound familiar?"

"Not really bro," Simon shrugged.

The frustration showed on Derek's face. He always wanted to be one hundred percent certain and now his own brother was doubting him. He dropped his head into his hands.

"Is that all you remember?" I asked, trying to get more information out of him. "Think really hard."

He shot me a look. "I am. I don't remember anything else." And with that he retreated into the forest.

I got up and started to go after him but Simon stopped me.

"Let him work this one out on his own," he said grabbing my hand. "I'm not sure what he's talking about, but if he did hear Dad talking about another group then he'll remember eventually. He just needs a while to put the pieces together."

I nodded, still looking in the direction that Derek went.

"Let's kill some time while he's thinking. Wanna go for a walk? If we leave now we'll be far gone before Tori gets back." He shot me a wink as he said that.

I looked at him about to decline, wanting to go in the tent and do a little brooding myself, Derek style, but when my eyes met his I couldn't refuse. He looked so hopeful and so happy. Maybe taking a walk with Simon would allow some of his positive energy to rub off on me. And anyways, I was curious to see how things would play out. I had liked Simon so much but the last few times we had been together were a little awkward. Would this time be any different? In a way I wanted things to just return to how they were before. I wanted the butterflies back that he had once given me because as silly as it was for me to be thinking about my love life at a time like this, I welcomed the distraction. So I flashed him a smile and we took off.

We chit chatted as we walked about things of little consequence. It was a nice break from reality and I felt almost normal. Things were just as good with me and Simon as they had been in the past. He was still the same easy-going, happy-go-lucky guy who always knew what to say to make me laugh. Why then did my stomach hurt when Simon stopped and stared intensely into my eyes.

It wasn't the good kind of hurt that involved nerves and excitement. This was a feeling of dread that I couldn't quite understand. His hand was sweaty, his gaze was determined and he was so close to me that I could see the gold flecks in his brown eyes. There was no denying that he was about to kiss me. That was the reason for my dread.

This would be my first kiss. It was with someone I liked and knew really well....and I was dreading it? Something was really wrong with me these days.

Simon leaned forward and pressed his lips onto mine. And nothing happened. I felt nothing. This was all wrong. I pulled away quickly and turned my head, not wanting to look him. Not wanting to see his disappointed face.

"I-I-I'm sorry," I whispered.

He tilted my head with his fingers so that I had to look at him. "It's ok," he half-smiled. "You've been through a lot and I was going to fast. We'll just have to do this at another time when things die down a bit."

I didn't have the heart to tell him no so I just stared at the ground. After a minute of silence we started walking back to the tent. He tried to hold my hand a few times but I kept subtly twisting it out of his reach. It was clear that Simon and I didn't have that spark anymore. It made sense now as I thought about it. We had never actually gotten to know eachother. Sure, we talked a lot and we were both into movies, but all of that was just superficial. We were destined for failure because we could never make that deeper connection. I thought I would be sad after making this realization but I just felt a little disappointed that things didn't go the way I wanted them too.

After a long, awkward walk we reached the tent. Derek was waiting for us, his green eyes lit up with excitement. "I'm going back to get the truck," he said quickly. "Wait here. I know what we need to do." 


	7. Country Time

Disclaimer- I don't own The Darkest Powers. Enjoy!

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"What---" I started but Derek had already darted past us and headed toward Andrew's.

"Where's wolf boy going?" Tori sneered while emerging from the tent. My eyes narrowed at the nickname.

"Dunno." Simon said. "But looks like he has a plan."

"Well....what is it?" Tori questioned.

"We don't actually know..." I replied.

It was so typical of Derek not to reveal his master plan. Why did he always insist on keeping everything to himself? I knew he didn't want to burden Simon with any information that he didn't need to know and obviously he wouldn't be expected to confide anything in Tori, but I had thought that on our journey from Albany to Andrew's, when it was just Derek and me, that we had made some headway in our relationship. It seemed like he had started to trust me and even open up a little. I thought for sure he would tell me something big like this. Clearly, I was wrong.

He returned a few hours later rushing us into the truck and not even allowing us to pack up the tent. Simon sat up front with Tori and I squeezed into the back seat. I briefly wondered if Derek really knew how to drive.

"So Dog Breath are you going to tell us where we're going?" Tori finally spoke up.

"Albany." Derek said curtly.

"Ok....why...?" She pressed.

"We need to catch a bus." So this was how it was going to be. He was just going to give us the bare minimum and leave us to wonder about what was going to happen. Fine. I'd let him do it his way for now, but the second we got a minute alone I was going to force it out of him. He could keep Tori and even Simon in the dark for all I cared, but I wouldn't allow him to do that to me

Eventually, we arrived at the same bus station that had denied Derek and I tickets earlier because our lack of identification. I wasn't sure how he planned to get around that one, but we would cross that bridge when we came to it.

As soon as we parked I jumped out of the truck and ran over to Derek grabbing the sleeve of his t-shirt.

"Derek you WILL tell me what's going on. What's the hurry?"

"Later," he muttered.

He ushered us into the station as quickly as possible and made us sit on a bench while he went to get the tickets.

"Geeze, it's like we're children." Tori complained.

"Well then let's not make it worse by acting like them." Simon was also upset about being left out of the plans and had been taking it out on Tori the entire ride here.

I cut in when she opened her mouth to retaliate. "Hey remember when we promised to be civil to eachother? It still applies."

"Sorry..." Simon mumbled.

"Oh of course you are Simon, wouldn't want to upset precious Chloe." And then they were right back to fighting.

Derek had started making his way back so I jumped and ran in his direction. Tori and Simon were too preoccupied with eachother so they probably wouldn't notice my absence for a while. I grabbed him, pulled him aside and demanded for an explanation.

"We have to find a place to stay for the night. The next bus to Texas doesn't leave until morning." He told me with his brow furrowed in frustration. I could tell that he definitely did not want to wait until tomorrow.

"Wait, Texas?!" I asked surprised and confused. "What's in Texas?"

"Well I thought about it and I remembered my dad mentioning Dallas a couple of times," he explained, "That's where the other supernaturals are. They picked Texas to keep themselves under the radar and the Edison Group has all but forgotten about them. I can't believe it took me so long to remember something this important."

"Texas...." I mumbled. The only idea I had of Texas was what I had seen in films which consisted of horses, cowboys, and and chewing tobacco....not supernaturals. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of staying in Texas. It just seemed so foreign to me, having lived so long in New York. This would have been the farthest south I'd ever been, but I guess it didn't matter where we were going so long as there were people there that were on our side. Hopefully in Dallas we would have much better luck fighting the Edison Group.

He nodded and walked over to tell the others.

"Wait, how did you get the tickets?" I called to his back.

"I'm a big guy," he shrugged looking back at me. "I can be very persuasive."

As expected Simon was passive about the idea of travelling to Dallas, while Tori was fuming.

"I'm NOT going to Texas," she spat. "I prefer to drive rather than ride horseback!"

"It's a civilized state." Derek said, very annoyed by her constant protesting ever since we left the bus station in search of shelter. "They have cars, Tori don't be stupid."

"Just look at it as a way to get out there and see something new," I suggested trying to get her to stop complaining and help her look on the bright side. "Plus, we'll get more help with the Edison Group so it's like a two for one deal."

"Oh of course Little Ms. Sunshine! When you put it that way it seems down right peachy!" She shot me a mocking smile. I didn't blame her. The words coming out of my mouth sounded lame even to me.

We were walking around downtown Albany because we had to ditch the truck. Derek didn't think it was safe to be driving it since the Edison Group knew what it looked like and might be searching for it. After what seemed like hours of searching we discovered a dark alley that would be suitable for the night. One that was free of homeless girls armed with knives.

We settled in to go to sleep but something was making me uneasy. I felt like I was being watched. The back of my neck prickled and my hands started sweating. I prayed that it was just nerves and not a dead body lurking near by. I didn't think I could handle another one for a while. I had more than a fair share of corpses back at Andrew's and I wasn't eager to encounter anymore.

But, my body would not allow me to relax, so as quietly as I could I got up to walk around leaving the other three snoring. After a few steps I saw a ponytail whip past the corner of the alley. My senses told me that that was the cause of my unease. I decided to follow. I slowly rounded the corner and saw a woman, well, a ghost, standing about twenty feet ahead of me beckoning me forward. I didn't think I recognized her, but as I got closer I realized with a gasp.

Aunt Lauren.

No.

"Aunt Lauren, "I cried. "You can't be...."

"I'm sorry kiddo," she said sadly. "I'm so so sorry for everything." She started fading away, but she couldn't leave me again. I wouldn't let her. I needed her.

"Stop, no!" I cried desperately, lunging forward to grab her, as if I actually could. I just wanted to hold on to her and make her stay. Instead she just smiled sadly at me and vanished.

"No" I sobbed, sinking to my knees. "No no no no....please"

My voice was just a whimper. Now it was confirmed that Aunt Lauren was dead and I was devestated. I had been holding on to a small thread of hope that maybe, just maybe, she was still alive somewhere, but now I couldn't deny what I saw. I just let my face fall into my hands and released the tears. I didn't even jump when a hand gripped my shoulder.

"Chloe," Derek's deep voice rumbled in my ear. "What is it?"

"She's dead." was all I could manage to choke out but I knew Derek would understand. He would know that I was talking about Aunt Lauren.

Without a word he sat down next to me and took me in his arms. I knew he wasn't going to like the contact, but I didn't care. I just clung to him as tight as I could. Unlike with Aunt Lauren, I could control whether or not Derek left me, and right now, if he did I couldn't bare it.

After a while he started to release me. "Let me go get Simon." He said with an odd look on his face. "You need him now and he'd want to be here with you." But I just let out a ragged breath and pulled myself back into his arms while shaking my head. I didn't want Simon. I wanted to feel safe, not uncomfortable and throughout all of this Derek had been the only one who gave me that sense of security that I craved. I felt safe in his muscular arms and comforted by his tight grip, like as long as he was there, nothing in the real world mattered.

He pulled his head back and looked at me in confusion and then bighting his lip allowed me to get close to him again. I remembered looking into his green eyes and telling him thank you. I remembered falling asleep with one hand clutching his right sleeve, and my tears staining his left.

NOTE: So the whole Texas thing is pretty random huh? Well, while I understand that there is absolutely NO chance of this happening in The Reckoning, I truly believe that a writer writes the best when they are telling about things that they know and have experienced. I wanted to bring a little bit of my life into the story. I know it's a little out there but hey, this is all about creativity! I have some cool stuff planned for Texas so I really hope yall continue reading!  
Also, I would REALLY appreciate more reviews. They seem to be dwindling and I'd really like to know yalls reaction to my story so I know rather or not I should continue doing what I'm doing!! Thanks :) 


	8. I'll Be There For You

Well here it is! Chapter 8! I really hope yall enjoy it!  
And also, I do not own the Darkest Powers

________

Derek must have brought me back to the alley after my "incident" because the next thing I knew, I was waking up back on the ground, wedged between Simon and Tori. I raised up and searched for Derek but he was no where in sight. I lowered myself back down and squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to go back to sleep, not ready to face the day and definately not ready to deal with the memory of last night. But, despite my efforts, I couldn't escape my thoughts. All I could think was Aunt Lauren....gone...forever. It felt like I had nothing left.

It was as if I lost my mother all over again. That's exactly what Aunt Lauren had been for me all these years. After my mom's death she had been there to fill in the gaps that my dad couldn't. She helped make me whole again, but now....I wasn't sure what was going to become of me. My whole body ached with grief, and it didn't feel like it would ever go away.

I felt Simon get up and prayed that he wouldn't wake me up now. I couldn't deal with him and I definitey was not ready explain what happened. I didn't want to tell Simon and I hoped that Derek hadn't told him yet.

Eventually I forced myself up and mechanically made my way through the rest of the morning. I felt like a robot. It was like there was a distinct seperation of my life before Aunt Lauren's death and my life after. I would never be the same. I tried to plaster on a smile to please Tori and Simon. The concerned, watchful look on Derek's face showed that it didn't fool him a bit but he didn't say anything to me, thank goodness.

"Uh Chloe....Hello?!" Tori said waving a hand in front of my face. Apparently she had been talking to me. "I asked you a question? What is with you today? Youre being weird."

"Yeah Clo," Simon said grabbing my hand. "What's up?" I guess I hadn't fooled them after all.

"Oh sorry, just distracted!" I replied cheerfully. I needed to work harder to keep up my act. I slipped my hand from Simon's and turned to Derek. "So when do we go?"

He gave me a concerned look but just told me that we were going to leave in about fifteen minutes, then pulled me aside muttering some lame excuse about needing my help looking at the map. As if Derek needed help doing anything...other than changing.

"Chloe, "he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I'm uh..."

"What?"

"I'm getting kind of worried about you okay? I know you just lost someone, but last night when I looked at you....it was like there was a different person looking back...I just-" his voice was gruff. "Please talk to Simon. I dont want- I just think you need to talk to someone to help you get through this."

I turned my head. "I don't want to talk to Simon OK?"

"But I thought-" he started.

"I just don't." I said cutting him off. "And listen, I don't remember much of....last night....so incase I didn't get a chance to say it, I really appreciate what you did. Thank you."

He just nodded with his green eyes boring into mine and in that moment, despite my overwhelming sadness, I felt...OK. For a second my sorrow was replaced with warmth. My hands started sweating and my heart started pounding. The sadness returned though as soon as he walked away, leaving me feeling hollow once again.

We made it to the bus station an hour and a half before our bus was supposed to leave. Derek and I had to wait a little ways away from the station to avoid people. We couldn't risk being recognized since I had a million dollar price tag on my forhead and Derek was my supposed kidnapper. We left Simon and Tori waiting inside so that they could alert us if the bus schedule changed. At our spot by the building next to the station, Derek was pacing around back and forth, antsy to get on that bus and get going. He even showed a little emotion when Simon came out and told us that the bus was running an hour behing. The frustration was displayed clearly on his face. I'll admitt I was frustrated too. I was anxious to get away as if leaving here would also leave behind the negative emotions that this place represented to me.

"Derek, stop pacing." I said gently. "We're going to get there soon enough."

He pressed his back against the red brick building that we were stationed at and slid down the wall.

"Is something else wrong?" I asked even though I was sure Derek wouldn't tell me if there was.

"I'm just a little off." He looked up at me meaningfully. And then I noticed. His face was flushed and beads of sweat gathered at his forhead. His right hand was fisted and his left was furiously scratching his leg. He was changing.

"Derek-"

"I'll be fine, Chloe. I'll just go back to the alley if I need to."

"You mean we will...."

"No Chloe, I mean I will. Alone. You need to stay here and wait for information from Simon. I probably wont change anyways so just let me handle this."

I wasn't buying it. Normally his words would have hurt me and probably made me mad, but even though Derek sounded resolute, his eyes gave him away. He couldn't even look at me and he was biting his lip with worry. He was scared, as he should be. He had no other werewolves to tell him that all of this partial changing was normal, and now that he knew about the genetic modification he was even more uncertain and worried about his condition. I couldn't let him go through this alone, especially not after all that he did for me last night.

"I'll be right back." I said as I walked off quickly.

"Chloe-" he called but I ignored him and continued next door to the bus station.

"Tori can I talk to you?" I didn't even look at Simon.

"Sure." she sighed. "Whats up?"

"It's Derek," I said, my words coming out in a rush. "I-I think he's changing. We still have a few hours before the bus leaves so I'm going to get him back to the alley and help him out. Just come there if there's any news. Please, Tori?"

"Fine, whatever, go help wolf boy." she said waving a hand and turning away.

"And don't tell Simon. He'll want to come....and I'm not sure thats a good idea." The truth was, Derek didn't want Simon there. He didn't want Simon to see him like that.

She nodded and continued walking away. When I left I faintly heard Simon ask Tori "What was that about?". I didn't wait for her response. I would just have to trust that she wouldn't tell him.

When I returned, Derek was still sitting in the same spot. His head was leaned back against the wall and his eyes were closed. I placed a hand on his cheek and felt his fever. He was so warm. He must feel awful. A surge of pity shot through me. When would Derek ever catch a break? If he wasn't having to act as protector for all of us he was out of his mind in pain from changing. It never seemed to get better for him.

"Derek I think we should go."

He let out a deep breath and shakily got up. I put his arm around my shoulders so that he could lean on me for support, not that I was actually strong enough to hold him up, but I thought it might help a little. When his arm touched me I could feel his muscles snaking around. They were contracting and twisting in ways that I could only imagine caused him severe pain. I could tell it was making him light headed because he was so wobbly that I was worried we wouldnt make it back to the alley.

The second we got there he immediately fell down on all fours.

"Chloe" he said, his voice a little deeper than usual. "Please go if it get's to be too much. I mean it."

"OK." I replied softly, but only to please him. There was no way I was going anywhere. "Let's get your clothes off."

I helped strip him down to his boxers and despite the situation I couldn't help blushing. I probably should have been used to his unbelievable muscles by now but I had a feeling that it was something I would never get used too. No matter how many times I saw his abs....

His muffled cry brought me back to reality. I knelt down beside him and started kneeding my hands between his shoulder blades trying to loosen up the muscles that were knotting together unnaturally underneath my fingers. "I-i-it'll be ok Derek, I promise. You can do this." I repeated words of reassurance over and over. I didn't like to see him this way. He was always so strong and in control. It was so hard to look down and see the person that was always so together be this vulnerable and scared. I needed to be strong for him, and that gave me courage.

I could feel the changes starting to take place. The area that I was massaging sprouted thick fur. His back jacknifed upward at a sharp angle causing his bones to crack audibly and for him to whimper in pain. His head whipped from side to side and I saw the muzzle forming and his lips curling back to show his sharpened canines. His ears moved upward on his head and became pointed. He emptied his stomach, spraying the ground with sickening heaves. He was so close to making the change. I was sure this time he would finally complete it. This thought both scared and comforted me. On one hand I knew that completing the change would be a huge relief for Derek and I felt like after he reached this milestone the changes would become easier. On the other hand I was worried about what I didn't know. To my core I truly believed that Derek wouldn't hurt me, but what if the Edison Group had altered his DNA to the point where it wasn't Derek anymore? The truth was, that because of the modifications no one knew exactly what would happen to him once, and if, he ever did fully transform and that terrified me. But when I saw the fear in his eyes and the pain that clouded them, I knew that I couldn't allow myself to think those things. Instead I focused on the fact that Derek was my friend and no matter what he became I would stay by his side. I couldn't, and wouldn't fear him.

"I.....can't." he struggled to speak. A whine that sounded more canine than human seperated his words.

"Derek, you're doing so good. Your almost done."

"No." he growled and then let out a howl. His shoulders broadened and I could hear every single painful pop that his bones were making. He seemed to be peaking. Everything seemed to be climaxing. I rubbed my fingers harder through his fur urging him through the change.

And then it was over.

And it didn't work.

His body contorted again, but this time everything was going back to the way it was supposed to. After a few more jolts and cracks Derek collapsed in a heap on the gound. His entire body was quivering and his shallow breaths were shaky. This change seemed even harder on him than the last.

I place my small hand on his big one. He still had a fever but it wasn't as bad as before. "You did good." I whispered.

"Thank you" his words were barely audible. "for being here."

I shot him a week smile and brushed his damp hair from his forhead. "No need to thank me. Just lay here and rest a while ok?"

"Just for a sec...." he mumbled but he was asleep before he had even finished his sentence.

About half an hour later I heard Tori coming up the alley.

"OK you owe me big time." she said, not even noticing Derek lying on the ground. "Simon is not a hard person to keep a secret from. Especially if it's about you. It's annoying." she threw an apathetic look at Derek. "Can you get him up? The bus leaves in twenty minutes."

I gently shook Derek awake and he feebly got to his feet. He was still so exhausted that I still had to support him to get him to the station but as soon as we got there and saw Simon he straightened up and acted as though he was perfectly fine. I couldn't even imagine the effort that this caused him. The lengths that he went to to protect his brother's feelings were amazing.

We made it on to the bus and naturally Simon tried to get a seat next to me. "I brought the graphic novel." he beamed. "It's a long trip so we'll be able to get a lot done!" His face lit up and I almost gave in and sat down next to him. It might be nice to escape from all the madness by working on our book that Simon was drawing and I was writing, but then I saw Derek wincing as he tried to get into his seat in the back. He was still in pain and I couldn't leave him alone.

"H-h-how ab-bout this Simon, " I ammended. Crap, I needed to watch the stutter or he would catch my lie. I took a deep breath and continued. "I have a few questions to ask Derek about necromancers. You know, it's so hard to get information out of him so I have a feeling he's only told me about half of what he knows. Anyways, I want to see if I can dig some more stuff out of him and then I'll come up here and we'll work on that novel?"

Simon looked slightly dissappointed, but then his expression turned to annoyance. "You mean you're leaving me up here with that?" he jerked his head toward Tori who was sitting in the aisle seat across from Simon.

"Only for a while," I chuckled. "You'll survive." And with that I left Simon and headed toward the back of the bus.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked Derek.

He just grunted and I took it as a yes.

"How are you holding up?" I asked.

"How are YOU holding up?" he countered. "Look, I get that it's not easy to watch....you don't have to do it anymore."

"Oh Derek, stop it." I said exhasperated. How many times were we going to have this conversation before he realized that I didn't mind helping him change at all. In fact, I wanted to be there for him, like no one else could be.

He just sighed and leaned his head back on the seat. Before long his head fell down and hit my shoulder. Feeling tired myself, I let his soft snores lull me to sleep.

NOTE: REVIEWWWWWWW! 


	9. It's A Long Road Ahead

Disclaimer- DP isn't mine. We all know this.

Simon stood over us and cleared his throat jolting me and Derek awake. Derek's head shot up so fast that it knocked straight into mine...which had somehow ended up on top of his. The expression on Simon's face was confused, and maybe a little jealous? I guess I could see how things might have looked, but we were just sleeping, and it's not like Simon had never been threatened by Derek in these kind of situations before. And anyways, Simon and I weren't dating so it didn't make sense for him to be jealous. But maybe it did. After all how would I know whether or not Simon was the jealous type? I didn't really know anything about him other than his hobbies and that he was an over-all nice guy. So much of his deeper layers remained a mystery to me, and I had a feeling that they always would. I sort of felt glad for turning him down back at our truck-stop camp...even if I didn't exactly *completely turn him down...

"Well....um" Simon mumbled. "Hope you got some great necormancing tips Chloe...."

"Huh?" Derek started, but I cut him off with an elbow to the ribs.

"W-w-ell I guess necromancers j-just aren't that exciting, " I scrambled for an explanation. "We've been s-so tired I guess we just fell asleep." Derek grunted in agreement at my version of the situation. He was a smart guy, surely he saw how we must have looked, and of course he didn't want to hurt Simon even if there was no actual basis for his jealousy.

"Well, clearly." Simon chuckled, back to his old self. "You guys have been out for a couple of hours. The bus is going to stop in a little while outside of Colombus so we can get food. Until then, Chloe is it my turn to have your company?" He winked cheesily.

Ohio? Geeze, we must have been sleeping for a while. Thank God we were getting food. I was starving and if I was hungry, I knew Derek had to be ravenous. Werewolves possesed other quatlities besides super senses and super strength. They also had a super metabolism which caused them to eat more than five normal people would in one sitting. I wouldn't have believed it was possible for a person to eat that much if I hadn't seen Derek do it multiple times.

"Sure Simon," I complied. "I'll join you in a sec. I still have one more question for Derek."

"Okay," Simon replied as he turned around. "Derek, don't keep her too long!"

Derek just grunted and looked out the window.

I cleared my throat to try to get his attention. He didn't face me, but I knew he could hear.

"Derek, how are you doing?"

"What was that about?" he asked dodging my question.

"I don't know," I sighed and looked down. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and since I couldn't tell Simon about your change, I told him I wanted some necromancing tips from you so he wouldn't give me a hard time about sitting back here."

"Pretty lame." Derek muttered.

"Hey! It was the best I could do." I chuckled.

We sat in silence for a while, but it felt somehow off. I wasn't sure why there was an abrubt mood change. I had just been laughing, but now it was definitely tense. I watched Derek as he stared out the window, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Maybe if I didn't push it he would tell me how he was.

Finally, still without even looking at me, Derek spoke.

"Well.........then you should go up there now."

I looked at him, kind of insulted by how quickly he wanted to get rid of me. I was just trying to help, and while I knew that Derek wasn't exactly a tell-you-all-of-his-problems kind of guy I still didn't expect for him to act like this. Especially after what we had just been through...no, after what *he had just been through. He had just changed, not me....but, the truth was, I was so worried about Derek that I actually felt like I had gone through the change with him. I knew I felt no where near as bad as he did but I was still emotionally exhausted from the whole experience.

"Fine, I'll go. "I mummbled, "But not until you answer my question."

"What?" he snapped.

"Don't act like you didn't just almost change Derek. And don't act like this wasn't more painful than the others. I don't know if you forgot, but I was there too and I saw how hard it was for you. Just tell me. Are you ok? Seriously, I'm starting to get worried." The words came out a little harsher than I intended, but when Derek put up his stoic front it was impossible to get through to him without yelling.

"I didn't forget...." he said quietly. His green eyes met mine and I could see some of his walls fall down. His eyes expressed pain, sadness, and maybe even a little gratitude. He wasn't okay, but his gaze made it seem like there were other sources to his problems than changing. His teeth bit down on his lower lip. After a few seconds he cast his glance down towards the floor.

"Derek," I whispered, urging him to continue.

"Listen, I'm fine." he grumbled, looking at me once again. The stoic mask was right back up and his words were just as harsh as before. "Now go sit with Simon. That's where you should be. Please."

I pressed my mouth into a hard line. His mood swings were really hard to deal with. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he turned around and took fifty steps back. Fine. If that's how he wanted to be then I would let him sit back here by himself to brood for the rest of the trip. Obviously that's exactly what he wanted.

"Whatever. And just for future reference, you don't need to tell me what to do. I'm small, but I'm not five years old, I'm capable of making my own decisions. If I want to sit by Simon, I'll go sit by Simon. I don't need you to tell me to do it." I got up angrily. "And just so you know, I'm going to sit with him not because you told me too, but because I want to...of my own free will." I tried to sound mad, but the words just came out kind of bratty. Like I was about to stick my toungue out and tag on a "So there!". He looked at me like he wanted to say something, but instead just shrugged and turned back to his window. I felt my eyes start stinging and turned quickly and stomped off to the front of the bus. I couldn't let Derek see how much he upset me. I threw myself into the seat next to Simon.

"Woah! Hey there." Simon said, suprised by my sudden appearance. He looked concerned when he saw my face. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." I replied unconvincingly.

"Is Derek giving you a hard time? I'll talk to him. He can't keep doing that."

"Really, it's fine." I said, just wanting to drop the whole Derek subject. "It's just how he is."

"It's not fine, and honestly that's not just how he his. I know he's a little...overbearing...but he's just trying to protect us. He just get's a little carried away...I know it's no excuse, but....Let me talk to him."

I knew what he said was true. Derek really wasn't a jerk, but I wasn't ready to admit it yet. I was still mad at him and I felt like fuming a little longer. Usually I could get over things pretty quickly, but for some reason everytime Derek made me mad, or vice versa, it was harder for me to deal with. I wasn't really sure why.

"I'm over it." I said, trying to sound a little less upset. I didn't think I sounded over it, but Simon seemed pleased. I let him take my mind off things by talking about our book.

For the next few hours we worked on the book and talked about subjects far less intense than our lives had been in the past few weeks. It was so nice just to escape everything, and I have to admit, it was even fun flirting with Simon. I'm sure it didn't do anything to help get my point across that I didn't really feel the same way towards him as he did towards me, but it made me feel like a normal teenage girl which was exactly what I needed. Every now and then though, I couldn't help but cast a few guilty glances back at Derek. He looked so sad. There was obviously something up, and even though he was rude, I regretted just leaving him back there all alone. I almost felt like I shouldn't be up here having a good time when he was back there so obviously troubled.

The bus made it to the Columbus stop and the driver announced that all passengers would need to be back on board with in the hour. We filed out onto a shopping district and began searching around for a restraunt. We hadn't thought to bring snacks with us (running for your lives tends to distract you from things like that), so we had no choice but to spend our dwindling cash on a hot meal. I knew we should be saving that money but I couldn't help but feel a little glad about the chance for real food.

"Can we please go somewhere nice?" Tori asked. "I'm sick of eating crap. I know you guys don't mind digging in trash cans for food, but I certainly do."

"How about you quit acting like a little princess and we just find something reasonable." Simon retorted.

Again with the fighting. There was really no point in telling them to stop again so I just tuned them out and looked around at our restraunt options. There was mostly fast food, but there were a few little cafes that looked decent and not too unreasonably priced. I automatically turned to tell Derek but I quickly remembered our fight and decided not to. I wanted to apologize, but I didn't think he'd appreciate it very much and I didn't want to upset him again. I was tired of always doing the wrong thing so I just kept quiet and headed towards the closest cafe hoping that everyone would follow. As I started moving I felt something gently grab my elbow. I looked back and saw it was Derek.

"Chloe I'm..." He looked like he was struggling for words. "I'm really sorry. I just.....I'm sorry."

"Me too." I said quietly. While his apology was far from elequoent the fact that he even apologized at all meant a lot, and I was ready to forgive him.

I gave him a half smile and said "Let's just not do this anymore ok?"

He nodded and looked down at me. He was gazing at me so intensely, so sincerely that I couldn't help but blush. I mean, I had seen Derek be intense plenty of times when he was pissed off, usually at me, but this time his eyes were filled with a different type of intensity. My stomach danced and my heart raced. Why did this keep happening?

After a few crazy seconds, Simon and Tori's escalating argument snapped me back into reality and we all headed toward the restraunt. I was silent for the entire meal trying to come up with an explanation about what had happened earlier. Why did I keep getting that weird feeling around Derek? I mean, it was just Derek. Why did I have to start freaking out? I looked over at him and he seemed lost in thought too. I wondered if his thoughts led him in the same direction that mine had.

Simon grabbed my hand and announced that our hour was almost up and we needed to head back. We all walked silently to the bus and settled in for another long ride.

A/N- So another pretty uneventful chapter, I know....but Albany sure is far from Texas so they have to have a little down time on the way, but I promise once they get there, their lives will be back to crazy, hectic and terrifying! And I realize that there is a serious lack of Derek/Chloe action. As much as I would like them to fall in love right this second, I feel like it just wouldn't happen that way. I mean, we're talking about Derek here...not exactly the romantic, but I have tried to throw in a few moments.

Anyways, it's Mardi Gras break so hopefully I will be able to get another update in this weeked!  
Please review and let me know what you think! I would like to get hmmm how about 8 reviews before I post again?! So please please please write me a few words of feedback!

And again, message me with suggestions!!!!

Also, did everyone read Ch. 6 of the Reckoning! AHHH!! If not, do so immediately. IT'S GREAT! :) Here's the link- . 


	10. Beginnings and Endings

Chapter 10: Beginnings and Endings

Thanks for all the reviews Hope yall like Chapter 9!!! I'm skipping ahead so they are finally in Dallas. Here goes….

Oh and I don't own Darkest Powers….yet.

The rest of the bus ride was just a sleep filled blur. It took almost exactly fifteen hours to get from Columbus to Dallas and I swear I had to have slept at least 13 of those hours, only waking up to get food at the designated stops. I had been on such high alert for weeks that the lack of sleep hadn't really bothered me that much, but when finally put in a situation where I wasn't fighting for my life my body shut down and caught up on as much sleep as possible, which I suppose was a good thing because once we settled in Dallas who knew when we would get to rest again.

Besides making the trip go by a little faster, my coma also kept me from thinking about Derek. I wasn't sure what was going on between us, whether positive or negative, and I was just too exhausted to sort it out… I was also worried about what conclusions I might come to if I did have time to think about it…With everything I had to deal with Simon, I did not need any added complications in my life, especially under the circumstances that we were in. Running for your life didn't leave much time for sorting out my little romantic issues….if they even existed.

As we pulled in to our station I pressed my forehead against the window, suddenly not wanting to leave the bus. What we find here….more problems, more trouble? No matter what we always managed to, and now we were in uncharted territory. Maybe this time we wouldn't be able to get ourselves out of it. I was really afraid of what we would find here and wished for a second that none of this had happened. That it would all just stop. My eyes shut tight as I pretended that this was the bus taking me to A.R. Gurney (OK so this wasn't exactly my typical mode transportation to school, but hey, it's my fantasy). I would get out and see my friends. My solid, non-ghost friends. In fact I would never see a ghost again. I was just going to step off this bus and be the way I was: normal and happy.

I sighed during my dream. It didn't include Simon, Derek or Tori and I immediately retracted my wish. Over the past few weeks they had become my best friends (yes, even Tori) and now after all we'd been through I couldn't, and didn't want to imagine a life without them. They had become a part of me and as different as we all were, we had managed to become somewhat of a family. I couldn't give that up, no matter how appealing my old life seemed. Just thinking about not seeing them again made my stomach clench up in sadness. We had gone through this ordeal together, and it had connected us all in ways that could never be reversed.

I removed my forehead from the cool glass of the window and looked up. No one was in front of me and it looked like I was the last person on the bus. It felt a little weird that Simon hadn't waited for me to get off. I guess he had noticed my new indifference toward him. I had managed to avoid sitting by him the entire way here, not wanting to lead him on anymore than I already had. It was just wrong. My gut twisted guiltily. It wasn't fair for me to keep Simon hanging like I was. Something needed to be done soon if I wanted to keep our friendship. Even if I didn't like Simon in a romantic way I wasn't ready to lose him. He had always been there to comfort me and make me laugh. He truly was a good friend, I thought sadly. I wouldn't blame him if he stopped talking to me at all after how I'd treated him.

A heavy hand fell on my shoulder and I almost jumped out of my seat.

"Chill Chloe, it's me." Derek's voice was so deep and….appealing? I had to admit that when he spoke he sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger, minus the thick Austrian accent, and he did have the muscles to match that voice…hmmm….

"Uhh…Chloe?" he sounded concerned at my lack of response. "Everyone's off the bus. We gotta go."

I sighed and looked up at him. "Sorry. I was lost in thought I guess."

He just nodded and helped me up. One of the nicest things about Derek was that he never forced me to talk about things that I might not want to talk about. It wasn't that he didn't care, contrary to popular belief. My mind flashed back to Derek's file at the Lyle House. They thought he "showed a complete disregard for others". They were wrong. It was just that he liked his privacy, and respected everyone else's.

As soon as we got off the bus I took in my surroundings. Dallas surprisingly looked a lot like Albany. I guess the buildings were taller and a little more modern looking. The colors were different too. Albany was redder and the trees all had yellowish leaves like it was always fall, while Dallas was greener and the buildings were almost all grey instead of the brick that I was used to seeing so much, but I didn't see any differences that just blew me away. I don't know what I was expecting….maybe cowboys and pastures? Not this that's for sure, but then again, most big cities looked similar to me. It was when you got outside the city limits that you saw the uniqueness of the area. I hoped that maybe we would get to do that, but I guessed that sightseeing probably wasn't on our agenda.

"So….what now?" Tori asked impatiently.

"Cool it Tori, I'm sure Derek has a plan." Simon looked expectantly at Derek. We all looked expectantly at Derek. He was our unofficial leader. He always knew what to do, but now he was suddenly very interested in the sidewalk.

"Um actually, I don't know yet." He said with his teeth gritted. He hated not knowing. "I know the group is in Dallas, but I'm not exactly sure where…."

"Great job Dog Breath!" Tori yelled. "Drag us all the way down here and not have a clue what we're going to do! Awesome!"

Derek glared at her, but it was half-hearted. I'm sure he agreed with her, but I wasn't going to let him beat himself up over this. He had gotten us headed on the right track. If we weren't here we would just be wondering around Albany with no plan, getting absolutely nothing accomplished. He needed to realize that bringing us here was the right thing to do. Not knowing where the group was would just be a minor setback. It was so typical of Derek to shoulder the blame if things didn't go right, but I wouldn't allow him to. Besides, it's not like we couldn't find the group. We just needed to do a little digging around.

"Tori. Stop." I said, "Look, its dark so let's just find somewhere to sleep for the night. We can start searching tomorrow. I think I might actually know a way to find these people."

"How?" Derek asked.

"Liz." Liz would be the perfect person…well ghost, entity, thing, whatever…to help us out. I could just tell her what we were looking for and she could just scan the city and probably have an answer for us within a few hours…at least I hoped it would be that easy. Of course my Aunt Lauren would be the better option considering her recent work with the Edison Group. Odds were she knew at least something about the Dallas rebels, but I just wasn't ready to summon her yet. I had just found out she was dead a few days ago and I was still having a hard time accepting it. I would need more time before I could face her ghost again, but if things didn't work out with Liz I would have to suck it up and summon Aunt Lauren. But only if I absolutely needed to.

"Oh." Tori said, speechless for once. I guess this was weird for her with Liz being her former best friend and all before she was taken away and killed by the Edison Group because of her uncontrollable powers…which apparently we all had.

"That's a great idea Chloe." Simon said. "Let's go find a place to sleep." Derek also grunted his approval and then led the way to look for a safe spot for the night.

Tori mumbled something that sounded like "Of course you'd agree with Chloe…she can do no wrong." But I ignored it.

I shouldn't be so hard to find a spot here since we didn't have to be as incognito as we were in New York. News of my disappearance probably hadn't gotten here yet, and even if it did no one would pay much attention to a missing girl from Buffalo because the odds of her ending up in Dallas were slim. How ironic.

As we walked, Simon pulled me back. "Chloe, can we talk for a sec?"

Crap. This didn't sound good.

"Uh s-sure." I mumbled as I slowed my stride so that we were out of earshot from the other two. Well Derek could probably hear us, but at least Tori couldn't. I noticed that Derek looked back and I silently prayed that he would yell at us to keep up so that I wouldn't have to deal with this right now, but instead he just stared unemotionally for a while before turning his gaze back in front of him. Great, the one time Derek isn't snappy…

Simon cleared his throat awkwardly. "Look, you know I like you right?"

"Yes." I said lamely. How could I not after his impromptu kiss back at the truck stop that I had oh so gracefully rejected…

"Well, I can't help but notice…you've been acting different around me…ever since I, you know, kissed you…" He was looking at the ground as he spoke, clearly nervous to hear what I had to say.

As I thought of a response I looked up at him. He really was cute. His thin athletic body, blonde hair, and cute smile would have any girl drooling, and from stories I'd heard, there definitely hadn't been a shortage of love-struck girls in his life. As I looked him over I tried one last time to convince myself that Simon was the one for me. He had to be the one I wanted. He was nice, cute, funny, and he was into the same things as me…Okay so I still didn't think our relationship had depth but that could change over time right? Maybe my second thoughts about him were just stress related.

"Chloe please say something," he said quietly.

I sighed. No, things wouldn't get better with time. I wasn't into Simon like any normal girl would be. I mean, I did have a crush on him, but that was back when I was still semi-normal. I mean sure I had just started seeing dead people, but I still possessed some of my old normalcy. These past few weeks had managed to drain every last drop of it from me though. I guess I just was a freak.

"I'm s-s-sorry." I said. God, I wish I had something more to say, but all I could think of was 'hey Simon, sorry I've lead you on all this time. I don't like you as more than a friend, even though I act like it!' and there was no way in hell I was saying that, no matter how true it was.

"So that's it then…" he said, "I'm sorry too."

He started to walk a little faster but I grabbed his arm. "I really am sorry." I said. "It's just, things have changed for me and well…I'm just not sure about much of anything anymore. You really are a great guy Simon. Better than great, actually. I just…I don't know…nothing makes sense. Please don't be mad."

He sighed and smiled weakly. "I can't be mad. You didn't do anything. You just don't like me like I thought you did. I guess I'm just disappointed is all…"

With those words I let him walk ahead. Hopefully in time, he would get over this and forgive me. Until then, I would feel guilty for what I'd done.

Despite the guilt though, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Sure this wasn't exactly how I wanted things to go but at least now I wouldn't have to worry about sending false signals to Simon.

"We can stay here," Derek suddenly announced.

We had ended up under a bridge of highway 75. When did we get to a highway? I really needed to stop spacing so much.

"Well this is safe." Tori spat sarcastically. "People here drive like lunatics; we're just asking to get squashed like bugs!"

"The angle up from the highway is too steep." Derek replied. "A car would have to be going over 110 miles per hour to make it up here in a crash." Why was he always so smart?

"Huh." Tori replied, not looking convinced, but also not exactly know what to say back.

I awkwardly helped set up the sleeping area. I felt weird being around Simon… Derek sure seemed in high spirits though. He didn't even snap at Tori when she made a comment about having to find a portable dog house to take with us from now on. He even looked over and smiled at me a few times which never failed to make me blush. Huh, wonder what the sudden mood change is all about…

A/N: Ok I think we know EXACTLY what that's all about ;)

Also, I hope yall aren't getting bored with the story :/ The action will come next chapter, and soon some more characters will be introduced. Just bear with me and keep reading! Also feel free to message me any suggestions

And of course….REVIEW PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!


	11. Electric

Chapter 11: Electric

I don't own the Darkest Powers of course.

Everyone sat in a semi circle around me as I prepared to summon Liz. I hadn't entirely gotten used to my powers yet (hey, I've only know about being a necromancer for a few weeks!) so I always got a little nervous about summoning. Since I was "genetically modified", my powers were way more developed and potent than a normal necromancer's would have been so there was the possibility of my summoning Liz….and unintentionally raising an entire cemetery if there happen to be one nearby. I shivered as I remembered what that weird demon told me when I was still in the clutches of the Edison Group (courtesy of Rae and my Aunt Lauren). She had said that I almost raised a thousand corpses resting almost two miles away. Now, she could have been lying, but due to previous experience (raising a dead homeless guy in my sleep completely by accident, contrary to his belief), I had a feeling that she wasn't. I shuddered at the thought, and on top of all of that I had to worry about my audience? No, they were not helping my nerves one bit. Well, I hoped they wouldn't be too disappointed when I failed miserably because unless I could get a hold on my emotions then I couldn't summon a thing.

My eyes were squeezed shut tightly as I tried to focus on Liz. I didn't have her green hoodie any more so it would be a little more difficult to summon her, but I had managed to do it before and I knew I could do it again. I just….had…to…focus.

…Which I couldn't do with 3 pairs of eyes boring into my head.

I opened one eye and looked at the group.

"What? Did it work?" Derek demanded rather than asked.

"Is Liz here?" Tori asked shakily.

"Well…no…" I muttered, "But---"

"Great she can't do it." Tori sighed, trying to sound angry but the disappointment was clear in her voice. She had wanted her best friend to come back. Wow, Tori had feelings.

"You didn't let me finish." I said calmly, not wanting to get worked up. I needed to be relaxed and have a clear mind if I wanted this to work. "I can do it…just not with you guys watching. It makes me too nervous to concentrate."

"Got ya." Simon said as he started to get up. "We'll give you some space." He and Tori wondered about twenty feet away from me and started talking, well probably fighting, but at least their attention was on each other rather than my little performance. Derek continued to look at me expectantly.

"Uh Derek, you too." I said. He was making me more nervous than anyone.

"Chloe if you just concentrate—"He tried to argue.

"Derek go!" I half-shouted. God, I swear, he could be the most stubborn person alive. I knew he thought he was helping, but geeze!

He grumbled something that I couldn't understand and got up to join Tori and Simon.

I sighed. Finally. Now I could do this.

I turned my power on the lowest setting and pictured Liz. When nothing happened, I amped up the setting a little more, careful not to overdo it, and imagined her blonde hair and pretty smile as I called her to me. I vaguely pictured her form materializing in front of me and gave her a mental tug to join my world.

"Wow Chloe you're getting better at this!"

My eyes shot open and I saw Liz staring straight back at me, beaming, with her giraffe socks and all. I smiled right back at her. Liz had left me for a while to visit her family and do whatever else ghosts do and I had really missed her. Ghost or not, I was genuinely happy to see her.

"Liz!" I practically yelled out. "I'm so glad it worked! "

"Well silly," she chuckled. "Of course it worked! Like I said, you're getting so much better at this! So how are you guys anyways? And wait…" she said slowly finally noticing her surroundings. "What the heck are you guys doing here? Where are we?"

"Well considering the circumstances, I guess we're okay…" Okay, so we were definitely NOT okay, but when someone asks how you are they never want to hear the real answer. They always want you to sugar coat things. "And we're in Dallas. We're looking for another rebel group to help us find Simon and Derek's dad….." I launched into a full explanation of what had happened in the past few days. I explained that Andrew was gone and the Edison Group was still searching for us. The whole time she listened, her forehead wrinkling more and more as I went on.

"Jeesh," she said. "Things just keep getting crazier and crazier for you guys…"

"Yeah," I sighed. "Actually I had a reason to summon you. The rebel group we're looking for…well we don't exactly know much about them or how to find them. Is there any way you can help us out?"

"Well…" she said thoughtfully. "I think so. I can definitely look around, but without a description it's going to be hard. I'll see what I can do though. Let me scan the city and I'll be back in a couple of hours if I see anything that looks promising."

"Be sure to look outside the city limits too." I added.

"Got it." She looked confident and that made me breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe my idea of summoning Liz wasn't so crazy. If it didn't work I knew Tori and Derek would be on my back about it. Simon wouldn't usually, but maybe now since I'd been so heart-less he'd join in on the Chloe criticism. My stomach clenched at the thought of how I'd treated Simon. I tried to ignore the feeling.

"Thanks Liz." I said. "This is our last hope."

"So no pressure then…" she giggled. "Don't worry! I got this!" And with those words she vanished before my eyes.

"Alright guys, you can come back now." I called in their direction. Judging by the way they hurried back to me they had been waiting on edge for me to call them back over.

Of course, Derek got to me first.

"What is it? What did she say?" He asked quickly.

"She thinks she can do it." I responded, speaking to all of them. "She thinks it'll be a few hours though before she finds anything. So I guess we just wait."

Every one nodded, but they didn't look to confident. I think they were afraid to let themselves hope. Why should they? Nothing had worked out in our favor before, so why would it now? I just hoped that this would turn things around.

"Alright." Derek said, breaking the silence. "I saw a grocery store about a mile back. I'm going to go get us some food and water. You guys just stay here." Tori rolled her eyes. She hated when Derek bossed us around, but she didn't argue with him. She and Simon just went back under our bridge and sat down. With one last look at me, Derek turned to walk away.

"Wait!" I said to his back. Suddenly, I needed to go. There was no way I could just sit around here for hours waiting for Liz to return. I would just go crazy.

Derek turned and furrowed his brow. "Yeah?"

"C-c-c-can I go with you?" For some reason I was nervous asking Derek if I could come along. I knew most of the time I was a burden to him and I was afraid he would turn me down. Surprisingly, he didn't.

"Sure, I guess so." He shrugged and continued walking. I hurried to catch up with him.

We walked silently for awhile, but it was comfortable. Derek never felt the need to fill silence with chit chat and I appreciated that. Every once and a while though I could feel his eyes on me. It was like they were burning me, making me feel hot…in a good way. A few times I met his gaze and felt my face turn the color of a tomato. Great, could I be any more of a moron? He was just looking at me and I had to get all nervous and awkward for who knows what reason. Yep, confirmation of my freak status.

"Simon will forgive you." He suddenly said. "He likes you too much."

I sighed. So he had heard mine and Simon's little convo. Well, I seriously doubted that Simon liked me that much anymore. Derek was just trying to make me feel better. "I really doubt that. After how I've acted, I wouldn't blame him if he never spoke to me again. I'm a seriously horrible person…" I trailed off with a sigh, and too my horror a few tears streaked down my face. I would have never lead on a boy like that before, and I really didn't like the person I was turning into.

Derek startled me by stopping and grabbing my arm, turning me around so I was facing him….and so close that I could feel his breath on my face. My heart pounded hard against my rib-cage.

"Chloe, you're not horrible. Never think that." He spoke so low it was almost a whisper.

He stared at me for a few more seconds and I returned his gaze, but then right on cue I got that twitchy, butterfly feeling in my stomach and I had to look away. For some reason I was feeling a strong pull towards him. I don't know if it was because I was so upset about Simon or because the sincerity of his words that were so different from his usual emotionless comments, but if I looked at him for one second longer I was afraid of what I might do. And what I was thinking, I knew Derek would not like…

He cleared his throat awkwardly when I looked away and then continued walking. I didn't feel his eyes on me anymore, but I couldn't help but feel this new spark between us. I just wasn't exactly sure what it meant.

Simon and Tori were bickering like an old married couple by the time Derek and I returned with the groceries. I took my portion of the food and sat as far away from Derek as I could. Until I sorted out my new found weirdness around him, I needed to stay away. I wasn't sure how to act around him anymore. I thought about the feeling though and realized that this was nothing new. It had been happening for a while now. But what the hell was it? I was so deep in thought that I nearly jumped out of my skin when something tapped my shoulder.

"Chloe it's just me." Liz said with an apologetic smile on her lips. "Sorry I scared you, but I have good news!"

"What is it?" I asked eagerly. When I spoke all three of my 'living' friend's heads snapped in my direction.

"Is that---"Derek started but I shushed him.

"I think I found who you're looking for!" Liz said smugly. She was clearly pleased with herself. "They're about twenty minutes walking distance from the city limits. I'm pretty sure it's a town called Belmont. The group is staying on a farm-thing with a big gate that says 'Washington' on the top. I saw a guy in the back yard practicing spells so I'm pretty sure they're who you want. If you take Greyhound bus B it'll take you right to the edge of the city, and then if you just follow Buckner Boulevard you'll end up right there!"

Wow. Liz was so much more helpful than I thought. "Liz, thank you so much! You've done more than you needed to!"

"Anytime!" she said. "I'll let you guys get busy, but I'll be watching out for you. Just summon me if you need anything. It should be easy for you now with all this practice." Again, she faded away.

I could see Derek practically dancing on the spot waiting for the news so I looked at them and relayed exactly what Liz just told me.

Derek lead us to the bus station where we managed to catch the B bus right as it was leaving, and even better, since we were staying in the city it was incredibly cheap.

The whole ride there though, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I could feel everyone else's nervous energy too. I mean, now that everything was happening it was a little scary. We didn't know anything about these people or what to expect from them. There was absolutely no way we could prepare. We just had to hope that they would believe us and help us out.

By the time we got off the bus, the sky had turned pitch black, but we managed to find Buckner Boulevard relatively easily and walked in the direction that Liz told us to. Before we knew it, a big iron gate with the word 'WASHINGTON' in big letters arched over the top came into sight. Simon hurried forward but Derek told us to stop.

"There's someone standing guard. I better go alone first just in case they don't want visitors." He said.

I squinted into the night but saw nothing. Thank goodness for Derek's werewolf vision.

"Be careful" I whispered as he walked toward the gate.

The three of us moved closer together as we all strained our eyes trying to see Derek. After a few minutes we heard footsteps approaching.

"Derek…?" I asked nervously. I should have know right then and there that it wasn't Derek. Derek never had audible footsteps.

I got a growl in response, and confirmed that it definitely wasn't Derek. I immediately went rigid with fear and ignored the urge to bolt. A dark form came into focus. Simon grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. I guess old habits die hard.

There was a sniffing sound and then a deep voice spoke, thick with malice, "Ahhhhhh, supernaturals."

The shadowy figure approached even closer. I couldn't see its expression or even its face. All I knew was that it was definitely nothing friendly.

A/N: Hope yall liked it! Give me some reviews! I don't mind if it's just "I like it" or "I hate it" (though I would prefer the first!). I just want to know if I'm on the right track and if yall still like what I'm doing! All it takes is a little push of that green button! Oh and also, I fixed the grammar mistakes in the first chapter. It's much better now!

Thanks for reading!


	12. PLEASE READ!

Soooo…the thing is, I have been meaning to get back to this story for a while now! And of course, when I finally get some free time The Reckoning has already been released! …So I feel like this story has kind of died…

BUT as much as I loved The Reckoning I just feel like there wasn't enough! The story ended too soon and I still want more! I mean 3 books is JUST NOT ENOUGH!!! AHHH

Anyways the point is…I want to ditch this story and start another…like a 4th book (well not book but story I guess! Haha) to the series. What do yall think? Yay or nay? I need opinions because I only want to do it if yall are willing to read it!

And I hope the answer is yay because I have though of some cool ideas that I'm itching to write about! I've been away from FF for TOO LONG!!! I'm having withdrawls!!

Let me know!!!! PLEASE!!!!


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